Getting Into Character ~ How Far Would You Go?

Crafting Believability From the Inside Out

To suspend disbelief and surrender to a story, the characters have to be believable. That sounds simple enough. Yeah, right. I read books that advised me to create character sheets listing descriptive features and facts about each character. I did. And my characters came out two-dimensional.

A list of facts didn’t get me inside my character’s skin. I have to internalize who the characters are before their personalities shine through my writing.

A list of traits was only a description of the outside of a character. And while those details are important, I needed to understand my character from the inside out before I could write dialog and describe actions that were real for that character.

I was a film-a-holic before I started on my writing journey. From watching all those movies, it finally clicked that writers have to be actors, show a character’s feelings through their words and actions. But before I could do that, I had to understand who they were.

Again, “how do you do that?”

Discovering Your Character’s Quirks

Fast-forward a few years along my writing journey, after a lot of trial and error and input from some honest critique partners (thank you!). Here’s a few methods I discovered that help me “become one” with my characters.

1. What’s in a closet says a lot about character.

In a UC Extension workshop taught by Andrea Brown, yes the Andrea Brown of Andrea Brown Literary Agency, asked the class describe unique items that were in our character’s closet (baseball gear, ballet slippers, board games, etc). This type of list helped opened a window into my character, because the contents of their closet showed me “who” they were and “what” they cared about.

2. I tweet, therefore I am.

In my current project, my characters tweet to each other rather than text, because it’s free. To pull this off, I couldn’t make up Twitter handles without the danger of exposing actual accounts. So, I had to create an account for each character. This included designing profile pages that matched their personalities, and figuring out who they would follow, besides each other. All I can say is, “whoa!” Figuring out who someone follows on Twitter is a great exercise in getting to know someone. My characters became surreally real, especially when they began tweeting to each other.

3. Do, Be, Do, Be, Do.

“Doing” is the fastest way to learn something, for many of us. And the rule holds true for learning who your characters are on a personal level.

DISCLAIMER:I *only* dress up as fictional characters on Halloween. But even so, it’s an amazing experience. People treat you like you are that character. Seriously. I learned that you can go pretty much anywhere and talk to anyone dressed as Mary Poppins. I am not even kidding.

Relax, you don’t have to dress up like a character to experience who they are:

Eat your character’s favorite foods: taste, smell, and touch elicit tangible feelings you can use to bring a character to life

Frequent places your character would go: utilize atmosphere, sights, sounds, people, and even conversations you overhear to give depth to your character

4. Pushing the Extreme Method Envelope.

Some actors push the envelope of method acting, and *stay in character* even when off the set or stage. If you’re extreme enough, you take this approach to getting into your character’s head too. I haven’t tried it, yet. But you never know.

For example, Lily Tomlin took “method acting” to a new level by dressing up as a character, and then going out into the real-world and interacting with people “in character”.

Trudy the-bag-lady was a life-study character Lily Tomlin later used professionally, as seen in the following clip from the 1980 Lily Tomlin Comedy Special, with guests Dolly Parton and Jane Fonda.

How do you get to know your characters?

We all learn in different ways. What worked for you might help someone else crack the surface of their character so they can make them fully rounded. Caring is sharing!

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16 thoughts on “Getting Into Character ~ How Far Would You Go?”

Great tips! I had never thought of creating twitter accounts for characters in a story. What an ingenious idea. I haven’t done the closet thing for my characters but I’ve read about other authors doing that and I feel it’s something I need to explore.

LOVE the Mary Poppins costume. Sounds like you had a ton of fun going out and about in it. 🙂

I decided my characters would tweet instead of text, because it’s free. Little did I know where that one decision would lead, but it was lots of fun and I learned a lot about my characters! Dressing up as Mary Poppins (on Halloween) is fun. However, no matter how good the costume, I look in the mirror and think, “But I’m not Julie Andrews!” Julie Andrews was awesome at the the NY13SCBWI Winter Conference this past weekend, by the way. She is more beautiful and gracious in person, which I didn’t think was possible. 🙂

I adore Lily Tomlin’s old lady. Love the idea of imagining the closet contents, and hats off on the twitter accounts, that’s a lot of work, but I suppose no more than hitting the streets in character. Perhaps that is why our characters, from protagonist to antagonist to villain, have a little bit of their creator in them, even if it’s a trait flipped upside down.

I think there are many parallels between the way actors develop characters and the way writers do. One of the biggest differences is that their interpretation happens in a moment, while we get to keep editing till we have it right.
Oh, and now I REALLY want a Mary Poppins costume…
😉

I agree with you Liv. The invention process for actors and writers is very similar. I think the really good actors put in a lot of time beforehand in character development. But then you’re right, they have a moment to pull it off without a hitch. I’m not sure I could do that. I like the security of being able to edit and polish before putting my characters “on stage”.

Being Mary Poppins is awesome. But no matter how good the costume, I was always disappointed when I looked in the mirror, because I wasn’t Julie Andrews. 😉

Great idea about looking in their closets. When I first read your words, I thought of their skeletons in the closet, the things they keep hidden from others–that would work, too. I think I have to get inside my character and think and do as she/he would do. That works for me–method acting of writing.

Twitter handles and accounts for your characters — ingenious!! Lots of great tips there. I’m a real fan of experiential character development too — it’s not as straightforward for a fantasy project, but it is possible to carve out experiences here and there.

I have this dress which I’ve been wearing all winter — it’s more of a tunic really — and I think it’s perfect for my main character of the moment. 🙂

I don’t think I’ve spent enough preparation time on characters for my current project though. A fact I’ve been regretting. Gosh there are so many things to do, aren’t there.

Thank you, Ellen. I’m glad this post was helpful. It took a while for me to get to know the characters of my current WIP, but I’m chalking that up to the learning of curve of “the craft”. These things will become second nature the more we write.

You’re right about fantasy not being as straight forward as a contemporary story. But there are some things that could cross over, like your tunic, or learning to use a tool or weapon your character uses, such as a bow and arrow, knife, or creating pottery or candles. I look at writing as an excuse to have fun in ways I might not think of otherwise. Hot air ballooning anyone? 😀